current song list

“Be Our Guest” is a broadway inspired song in “Beauty and the Beast”. This popular hit song takes place when the castle’s enchanted staff goes overboard when they welcome Belle. According to Wikipedia, the song had originally been intended for Belle’s father Maurice. The song was re-written to focus on Belle. In the animated film, the song was recorded by English actress Angela Lansbury performing the character Mrs. Potts and American actor Jerry Orbach as Lumière. 

Menken originally composed “Be Our Guest” using a simply melody to illustrate his ideas to his co-writer, Ashman. Menken had no intent other than to use it as a placeholder until he could come up with something better. After singing the tune for Ashman, he could not find a melody he liked better. He’s quoted as saying, he could not find something that would surpass “that dumb piece of music that I wrote initially because it was just right”. Once the melody had been decided by the pair, Ashman then wrote the lyrics.